State Politicians

There is much talk going on in libertarian/constitutional circles about the MIAC report on domestic terrorism released last month. Assuming that this is a copy of the actual report – and it appears to be so – allow me a few moments to discuss this, if you will.

First off, this report describes the rise, fall, and re-emergence of the American Militia Movement. Many of these types of people are domestic terrorists, whether they like the label or not. It describes the various conspiracy theories, including the NWO/NAU and Jew-controlled banking. These are ACTUAL conspiracy theories, and are somewhat popular in certain circles within the libertarian/constitutional movement.

Beginning on the bottom half of page 4 (of 8 ) of the report, ‘Militia Trends’, including ideology, training, and symbols are discussed. Many of these are fairly routine and, in my view, accurate. These include ideologies such as strong fundamental Christian beliefs, white supremacy, and the Sovereign Citizen movement. The training aspect discusses the military-style training many of these militias do, up to and including using actual military-grade manuals and training gear, such as MILES.

The ‘symbols’ aspect is where many in the libertarian/constitutional movement were caught off guard, but here again, I believe this to be accurate, if unfortunate. Page 7 (again, of 8 ) begins talking about Political Paraphernalia these groups usually subscribe to, and specifically mentions ‘It is not uncommon for militia members to display Constitutional Party, Campaign for Liberty, or Libertarian material. These members are usually supporters of former Presidential Candidate: Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr.’

DUH! You don’t exactly see your typical leftist Green/Democratic Party anti-gun peacenik running around learning how to fire automatic weapons! If you tell me someone in the US has an AK-47 or AR-15, I’m NOT going to assume they voted for Al Gore or John Kerry! This is simply blatantly obvious, whether the more sane of us in the libertarian/constitutional movement like it or not.

And this is my point: To me, this report doesn’t so much describe a potential government attack on the rights of us in the libertarian/constitutional movement so much as describe – accruately – that domestic terrorists tend to be extremely misguided militants who believe similarly to us, but don’t mind using force to get their way.

Personally, I take seriously that pledge when I signed up for my LP membership that says “I do not believe in or advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social goals.”

To me, this report says that we have a serious image problem, and that we have to use every method at our disposal to make sure that the Militia image is NOT the image of the libertarian/constitutional movement that the public sees. Instead, we need to work to show them the completely rational and sane members of our movement who are working to achieve our goals in peaceful manners.

Much like the Black Panthers and Nation of Islam during the Civil Rights days, the militias will make us look crazy if we let them. Instead, we need people of the caliber of Martin Luther King Jr to rise up and show the American people that our cause is indeed just, and we are indeed sane, rational people.

But the hysteria over the MIAC report is unjustified, and only makes our cause look all the more paranoid.